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All in favor of the kinds of tactical managing MCoA mentioned, esp. coping with the toastedness of certain hitters with platooning.

Also, I'd have a chat with Farrell about whether every pitcher should go to the slide-step.* We're throwing out 3% of the attempted base stealers, fer crissakes. I can believe Victor's hitting stats are going to rise, but I'm desperately worried that his arm just ain't going to get much better without help. Might be worth seeing if the pitchers can mitigate this baserunning problem without unduly damaging their efficiency against the guy at the plate.

*Qualifier: Since I'm not in NESN's viewing area, I have no idea whether most of the pitchers already use the slide-step. If they do and we're nevertheless throwing almost no one out, then I'm going to curl up in the fetal position and whimper for a while...

Well, the first step is to make sure the pitchers don't feel as if they have to win the game themselves. I mean...ignore the fact that you have two replacement level OF'ers (with two more to replace them on the bench should something go wrong!)* or that your catchers couldn't throw out Grandma Moses.

Just stay within yourself.

* And that JD Drew is standing out there thinking, "Have I ever actually appeared in 16 straight games?"

We really need a pure catchers thread. Has anybody ever had a catching closer? I think the Red Sox need that save for the whole you lose a roster spot thing. They should at least do some work on throwing behind runners. Something.

OK, this is not relevant to anything, but I ran across it in a recent Rosenthal column and it made me chuckle, even after another loss. (Apologies if you've seen/discussed it before.)

Mets infielder Alex Cora actually keeps a copy of former Red Sox teammate Dustin Pedroia’s book, “Born to Play: My Life in the Game,” in his locker.

Pedroia’s brashness is a source of amusement throughout baseball, and Cora flipped through the pages hurriedly to find me one particularly funny passage.

“I have something like 20-10 eyesight,” Pedroia writes. “All I know is that my eyesight is perfect. To be honest with you, I don’t read very well, even though I can see the words. My eyes are just made for hitting. They’re made to see fastballs coming in, but not to read a book.”

Cora said of the book, “I don’t use it for inspiration. I just want to laugh.”

I know it offends your delicate sensibilities for me to comment on the manager's decisions, but this is a thread about the manager... and his decisions. There's plenty of other internets out there for you to explore if you'd rather not read such things.

I know it offends your delicate sensibilities for me to comment on the manager's decisions, but this is a thread about the manager... and his decisions

Besides PRing for Victor Martinez in the 7th inning, I haven't had any objections.

I don't know if the letting starters get gassed refers to Buccholz (he actually still had good stuff) or Wakefield (Tito and Wake were all but giving up on the game to give the pen a break)

There should be a 'What is Theo going to do'. Because QUITE FRANKLY, not only are the Sox going to miss the playoffs this year...they're in big trouble for one or two more years. It's hard enough to buy your way out of problems. It's even more difficult when your richer big brother lives with you and has the pick of all the hot hookers.

On the topic at hand, I was very happy to see Bard in the 6th tonight with the bases loaded. Now that's aggressive and productive.

The lineup, though, is sort of weird. Why move Pedroia out of #2 and put Drew there--not the natural place for either of their skill sets. Pedroia has gone in the tank since and Drew hasn't snapped out of his slump. I'd flop them.

Sorry, but I can no longer take your comments on Terry Francona seriously. You really do come across as a Walter Mitty guy who's actually sitting there typing/thinking how he'd do a better job than Tito.

Also, to address Matt's main point, that's one way of looking at things. There's also the possibility that this sort of managing--making small moves for the sake of doing something--may come off as panic, and thereby serve to make players more uptight. That's one school of though on it anyways.

20:
OK deal. But I think if you go back over your work, you'll see that you've made roughly 12 kajillion
anti-Tito cracks in a row. One gets the distinct idea that you think he's the worst manager in the AL.

And it's not the same lame joke. It's a series of brilliant variations on the same lame joke.
Speaking of which, Wakefield is pitching today.

As usual the bullpen throws away a Wakefield win. Yuck! This team is worse than I thought. Tito's an OK manager and Theo is an OK GM, but they're both overrated and Theo long ago let the adulation go to his head. And last winter was NOT his best.

Trading Manny was the huge unforced error -- he could be putting up his 200 OPS+ for us, without his hamstrings being a problem, provided Tito could be persuaded to DH him.

And Delcarmen was being saved for a save situation. It's called "The Timlin Theorem".

Sadly, not even that. Home game, extra innings, no save is possible. I'm guessing Atchison was used simply because he'd already warmed up once before, which is obviously insufficient cause. hopefully that's the end of Scott Atchison, reliever who pitches innings that matter.

Is teddy going to argue that Delcarmen is a Choka, and so this was justified?

No clue. His velocity is down but he has been pretty effective so far (it's entirely possible the .036 BABIP won't stand up though). I watch him and wonder if he is hurt or if the Sox have taken the approach that says lose a little velocity for improved movement and command. PitchFx at Fangraphs doesn't show anything particularly definitive on the movement front.

Speaking of confusion, I think I've asked this before but what is Karl's deal? He IS a Red Sox fan right? Does he know Duquette personally or what? I realize I'm pretty over the top in my Theo/Tito worship, that's fine, but it's hard to understand a Red Sox fan disliking them as much as he does, you'd think two World Series titles, two other ALCS berths and six 95 win seasons would enable a bit of good faith. Did he enjoy 2004 and 2007? I've never met a Sox fan who said "yeah, I guess '04 and '07 were OK." It's confusing.

Speaking of confusion, I think I've asked this before but what is Karl's deal? He IS a Red Sox fan right? Does he know Duquette personally or what? I realize I'm pretty over the top in my Theo/Tito worship, that's fine, but it's hard to understand a Red Sox fan disliking them as much as he does, you'd think two World Series titles, two other ALCS berths and six 95 win seasons would enable a bit of good faith. Did he enjoy 2004 and 2007? I've never met a Sox fan who said "yeah, I guess '04 and '07 were OK." It's confusing.

But again, I'm working on limited sleep.

You could be Rip Van Winkle himself and still not be able to comprehend the way the mind of a karlmagnus works, so don't beat yourself up.

Speaking of confusion, I think I've asked this before but what is Karl's deal?

He's either pulling everyone's chains, or he's slightly nuts. He makes/has made some very insightful posts over at the Hall of Merit, but as far as his contributions to ST, I think they are (IMO) generally better off ignored.

Trading Manny was not the problem, not resigning Jason Bay was. Never believe UZR at Fenway for OF.

15 games is now 25 games, and things are even worse. There is some hope though, but not sure if it is real or not. JD and Papis bats showed signs of life, but against Oriole pitching. Will it hold true for better teams. The Angels fortunately have allowed almost as many runs as the Red Sopx and Orioles, and they will be playing at home, so may the good times continue.

Not picking on ptodd, but this is why you don't freak out over a bad start.

Clearly they are better than I had thought they were a month ago, owing in large part to Clay Buchholz thusfar exceeding even the most optimistic projections I saw for him this season.

They're playing, IIRC, 21 of their next 30 away from home though. We'll see if they can handle good pitching (looks like they're going to hit Ubaldo Jimenez and Tim Lincecum, and then face the Rays at home after that) the way they've handled medicore or poor pitching they've mostly faced recently.

So I saw the Fangraphs article on ESPN about the WAR all-stars, and much to my surprise, Marco Scutaro is the #1 AL shortstop in WAR. Adrian Beltre is tied for first among AL 3Bs. Kevin Youkilis is 2nd among AL first baseman. Pedroia is 2nd among AL 2nd baseman. Victor is 2nd among AL catchers.

And the Red Sox lose another game with Francona not pinch hitting for a platoon player. Darnell McDonald has no shot against a RHP with a slider, and there he is, batting against Brian Wilson with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 9th, down by 1 run. JD Drew is supposedly healthy enough to start tomorrow, and is on deck to hit for the pitcher. Why in the world was Drew not put in to hit for McDonald instead of saved for a potential AB in the pitcher's spot? You NEED to extend the game there, and Drew is your shot to do that. Another shot at winning a game pissed away because Francona doesn't understand how to pinch hit for platoon players.

That is a tough one to fathom. If you're going to use Drew, why not do so before the game is over, considering that any positive thing he could do would at least tie the game? Maybe they were dead set against getting stuck using him in the field that night?